


Too Hot, Hot Damn

by AlannaLioness



Series: Winterhawk Week 2k15 [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Broken AC, Fluff, M/M, Swearing, Theme: Hot, Winterhawk Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 22:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5432528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaLioness/pseuds/AlannaLioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If the heat doesn't kill Clint, constantly see Bucky shirtless certainly will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Hot, Hot Damn

**Author's Note:**

> What follows is my contribution to Winterhawk Week 2015. Theme: Hot.   
> Originally posted on my Tumblr. natthewombat.tumblr.com

Clint is going to die. It’s too damn hot and Clint is going to die and it is all Bucky Barnes’ fault. Now, obviously, Clint is not blaming Bucky for the heat wave currently blasting New York, nor is he blaming Bucky for Stark’s air conditioner breaking; because that would be ridiculous. But, it’s not the heat that’s going to kill Clint. What’s going to kill Clint is the fact that Bucky has taken the opportunity to walk around without a shirt on. Bucky has been walking around the Tower, with no shirt on, all his muscles on display, for two days, and Clint is going to die. He is sure the sheer force of will that he is exerting to stop himself from looking, from drooling, from touching, will eventually cause his skull to collapse and kill him. That is, if he’s not first crushed by the injustice of it all. Because really, it’s just not fair. It’s not fair that Bucky walks around with such confidence and grace and that damn smirk he wears when he catches you looking, and he’s already taken. He’s taken and Clint can’t even say that the other guy’s not good enough, he can’t foster hope that they won’t work out or they won’t last, ‘cause its Steve. Captain Fucking America. It’s not like Clint can root against that. And even if Clint could look past the Captain America part, the good enough for anyone part; he couldn’t look past how much they obviously love each other. He can see it in the way they look at each other, in how Steve is the first person Bucky looks for after battle. It’s so obvious. And Clint is not one to root against True Love (so screw him, he’s vaguely romantic at heart). But he will lament the injustice of it all. 

“Damn it Barnes! Put a shirt on!” Clint yelled as Bucky walks into one of the smaller common rooms, where Clint had definitely not been sulking. Barnes smirked. 

“Why? It’s hot.”

“Well, then, go take a walk around the lower floors. That’ll cool you off, they still have AC.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, flopping onto the couch beside Clint. “Why is that anyways?”

“Security thing,” Clint said. “Something about security and isolation in case of contaminants.”

“Makes sense.”

“It does. So. Go. Walk. Cool down.”

“Nah,” Bucky said. “I’d rather go swimming in Stark’s pool upstairs.” He grinned at Clint. “You should come. I’ve convinced almost   
everyone else.”

Clint almost gulped, the image of Bucky, dripping wet with swim shorts clinging to his legs, burned itself into his brain. But also, the image of Bucky and Steve, in the water, hanging onto each other, gazing lovingly at each other. While it was a pleasant image, Clint wasn’t really in the mood to torture himself. 

“Steve’s gonna be there?” Clint asked. Bucky squinted at him in confusion. 

“Yeah, of course.”

Of course. Of course Steve would be there. ‘Cause where Bucky went, Steve followed. Yeah, Clint definitely didn’t need the extra guilt, better to tap out. 

“Sorry,” Clint said. “I’d love to really, but I should check on Bed Stuy. Need to make sure all the tenants are doing alright with the heat.” Bucky looked disappointed, like he’d been looking forward to team bonding or something. 

“Oh, okay. Well, see you around.”

“Yeah, see ya. Hopefully Stark’s guy will have the AC fixed before I get back.”

Clint has been in his apartment for 10 minutes when it all goes bad, and it takes him a minute to figure out why. At first, he can just feel that something is wrong. When he’d walked into the building 12 minutes before, it had been fine. He’d been greeted by smiling neighbours; he could hear children laughing, and the steady hum of an industrial sized air conditioner.

Air conditioner. 

He can’t hear the air conditioner. He reaches up to check his aids, (he has a terrible habit of automatically turning them down in the apartment, the walls aren’t exactly thick), but they’re on full. He stands and walks over to a grate, putting his hand in front of it. He feels nothing, no breeze, no gentle vibration. Nothing. He shrugs, figuring the system must have reached optimum setting and turned off to save energy, but when he checks the thermostat he sees that it’s still seven degrees hotter that it should be. So the AC should be on.

Damn it. 

There’s a knock on the door; its Simone and her kids. 

“Hey Clint. We just got back from the park and the AC won’t turn on? What's up?”

“Dunno,” Clint said. “I’m going to go check right now.”

Which is how Clint finds himself in the basement of the building, staring at the colossal machine he knows nothing about. And then is phone starts ringing. 

Great. 

“Hello?”

“Hey Clint. How’s Bed Stuy?” Bucky asks.

“I’ve literally been here for 20 minutes. What could possibly have happened in 20 minutes that you felt the need to call me?”

“What? No. Nothing happened. Everything is fine. Well. Steve had is disappointed face on. He thinks I said something stupid and pissed you off. I told him that wasn’t possible, I say stupid shit all the time and you don’t get pissed. But whatever. He’s wrong right? You’re not mad at me right?” Bucky was talking fast and Clint could hear some kind of background noise. 

“What? No. I’m not mad. I seriously just needed to check on the apartment. Tell Steve I’m not mad.” Clint really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Steve’s disappointed face. 

“Oh. Good. I will… Once I get back.”

“Get back? Bucky, where are you?

“Uh, where are you?” Clint could now hear a strange clicking and grating sound.

“Bucky?!”

“Cause you’re not in your apartment.. Jeez! No! Stop!” There was a crash and some commotion and then Bucky spoke again, but he   
sounded far away, “Clint please tell the nice lady I’m allowed-” there was a yelp and the Bucky was cut off. 

“Bucky!?”

“Clint? Is that actually you?”

“Simone? What’s going on? What happened to Barnes?”

“Your boy in black her came rolling through the window. Don’t think he expected to be met with a couple curious kids who proceeded to tackle him.”

“Yeah… probably not. He’ll be fine though, he’s a sucker for kids. Lets them get away with anything. Could you uh, could you send him down to me please?”

“’Course.”

Bucky appeared a few minutes later, a kid hanging from each arm. 

“When did you become a jungle gym?” Clint asked him. Bucky just glared. Then he raised an eyebrow at the AC unit that Clint was still just staring at. 

“Broken?” Bucky asked. 

“Yeah.”

“I’ll take a look if you want,” Bucky said casually. Now it was Clint’s turn to raise an eyebrow. Bucky shrugged, which caused the kids to bounce and giggle. “I’m good with machines. Only reason I didn’t try to fix Stark’s is because he’s a distrustful bastard. Plus, he still thinks I know nothing of any technology newer than a radio.” He rolled his eyes. 

Clint shrugged. “Sure. Take a look. Then we’ll call a mechanic.” Clint smirked, but Bucky just grinned. 

“What’ll you do if I can fix it?”

“Uh. I’ll owe you one I guess?”

Bucky thought for a moment. “You’ll come to the pool party.”

“If you fix it?”

“Yeah, I fix it and you come to the pool, then we’re even.”

“Fine,” Clint said with a grin. “IF you fix the AC I will come to the pool party.”  
Bucky smirked and shook the kids off him. 

5 minutes later, Clint was staring, gobsmacked, at a happily thrumming air conditioner while Bucky whooped and punched the air beside him. 

“Seriously?” Clint said. 

“Seriously.”

“You’re so dignified Barnes. So full of grace and poise.”

“Shut up Barton. You’re just being a sore loser. Now let’s go. Pool party awaits.”

 

The party is just as bad as Clint thought it would be. Bucky is glorious; strong and sure in the water, his practiced stroke full of power. But at the same time, it is nothing as Clint imagined. ‘Cause Steve was not clinging to Bucky. He was sitting on the edge of the pool, legs dangling over the edge, thighs firmly pressed against Sam’s. 

SAM.

Clint was in the deep end, his arms folded on the deck and his head pillowed on top of them, while his legs kicked lazily in the water below him. He raised his head when Bucky swam up beside him. “This is nice, yeah?” Bucky said as he copied Clint’s pose. 

“Yeah.” Clint said. “But… What’s up with Rogers?”

Bucky looked over at Steve. “Oh yeah. He’s not a big swimmer. He’ll get in if we play a game or something, but just hanging out in the water isn’t really his thing.”

“No. I mean…” Clint paused, afraid to voice what he was thinking; he didn’t want to come off as a jealous a-hole. 

“Oh,” Bucky said before Clint continued. “You mean him and Sam. I know, right? Just get a room already, or hop in the hot tub or something. Makin’ moon eyes at each other and being obnoxiously cute just isn’t fair to the rest of us. 

“What?” Clint asked, more than a little lost. 

“What?”

“I, uh… I’m lost? What’s going on with Sam and Steve?” Clint understood what Bucky was implying of course, but it didn’t make any sense.

“What do you mean ‘what’s going on with Sam and Steve?’ They’re together,” Bucky said.

“Like, together together?”

“Yes like together together. In the Biblical sense of the word.”

“But, when?”

“Like a month dude. How did you not notice? They’re not exactly subtle.”

“Well, apparently, I’m not observant!”

“You could say that again,” Bucky grumbled. 

“What?” Clint asked.

“Nothing,” Bucky said quickly. “But, honestly, how did you not notice? They hold hands for Christ's sake!”

“I don’t know. I guess I was distracted. I thought…” Clint trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

“You thought what?” Bucky prompted. Clint sighed, resting his chin on his hands.

“I thought you and Steve were together,” he muttered quickly, hoping Bucky wouldn’t catch it. Of course, Clint is never that lucky. 

“What?!” Bucky said. Well, at least Clint wasn’t alone in his confusion any more. “Me and Steve? Why would you think that?”

“Seriously Barnes? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Cause I like you!” Bucky practically yelled. 

Clint’s had jerked up and he stared at Bucky for a moment.

“What? No… no… that’s not… But. Steve.”

“What about Steve?” Bucky asked.

“I mean. The two of you! You’re a legend. The love that broke through brainwashing! The century old story! And, and you’re always together! He’s the first you go to after battle!”

“Clint, listen to me. I am not in love with Steve. I do love Steve, like a brother. Steve has been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and all the time I can’t. I will always love Steve, but not like that. And I check on him first because he does stupid reckless shit and needs constant minding. And despite his serum enhanced size, I’ve never been able to break the habit of looking out for the bastard.” Bucky paused. “You’ll notice that you’re the second person I check on.”

“Because I also do stupid reckless shit?”

“Yeah. But also ‘cause I like you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And Barton, you are incredibly oblivious.”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes. Yes you are. In the past two months, I have taken every opportunity to flirt with you. I have cooked your favourite food. I have watched all those dumb archer movies that you like,” Bucky sounded like he was checking off a mental list, probably titled ‘How to Woo an Archer’. “And then I had to break Stark’s fancy ass AC just to have a valid excuse to be shirtless around you! And then! Then I had to break a second AC just to get you into this damn pool so I could complete this convoluted plan and then go and mess it up by jumpin’ out of order and thinkin’ I’m with Steve!” Bucky stopped, breathing heavily and glaring slightly at Clint. 

And Clint couldn’t help himself, he leaned forward and gently kissed Bucky. When he leaned back, Bucky was grinning. 

This is also when he noticed that the whole team, who had pointedly not been looking their way for the past five minutes, were now staring at them. And some of them looked down right murderous. 

“Bucky,” Clint said quietly. 

“Run on three,” Bucky said without looking behind him. “One, two, THREE!” They pulled themselves from the pool and rushed towards the stairs that would take them to the roof. Behind them they heard angry shouts regarding AC, accusations of treason, and what sounded like a bet being settled. Clint laughed as he followed Bucky up the stairs. When he realized that they weren’t actually being followed, he pinned Bucky to a wall and kissed him soundly. 

Clint had never been so happy to have been wrong.


End file.
